Nearly 400 Attend CableLabs® Summer Conference
Green noted the industry’s unity on technology issues, as seen through the support for CableLabs work. But, he said, competition continues to increase and that there is plenty of work for the industry and for CableLabs yet to accomplish.
The technical track began with a video-on-demand session moderated by John Hildebrand of Cox Communications. Others panel members were Doug Ike, AT&T Labs; Mike LaJoie, Time Warner; Ira Lehrman of AT&T Broadband; and Michael Pasquinilli of Cox Communications.
The next session, on OpenCable middleware, was moderated by Jean-Pol Zundel of Comcast Cable. The panel also included Ralph Brown of Excite@Home; Mark Coblitz of Comcast Corporation; Iain Hackett of Microsoft; Bill Shepphard of Sun Microsystems; and Steve Weinstein of Liberate Technologies.
The afternoon technical track began with a session on advanced hybrid/fiber-coaxial architecture and was moderated by Oleh Sniezko. Other speakers were Ron Boyer of Time Warner Cable; Wayne Hall of Comcast Cable; and Dick Mueller of Cox Communications. The track concluded with a panel on broadband choice, formerly known as third-party access. The session, which was moderated by Doug Semon of Time Warner Cable, included speakers Michael Adams of Time Warner Cable; George Hart of Rogers Cablesystems; and Susan Marshall of AT&T Broadband.
CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green (left) and Comcast Corporation Vice Chairman Julian Brodsky shown deep in discussion during CableLabs’ recent summer conference.
The first session on the business track was a discussion of new revenue opportunities made possible by Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 1.1. CableLabs’ Bill Kostka, head of the modem initiative, moderated for speakers David Berman of Arris Interactive; Vinnie Grosso of IntoNetwork; and Steve Nevalsky of Cisco Systems.
Next on the business track was a discussion of broadband satellite services moderated by Michelle Kuska of iSKY (now WildBlue). Panel members included Chris Baugh of Pioneer Consulting; Dylan Brooks of Jupiter Communications; and Marty Weiss of AstroLink. Bill Menezes, editor of Broadband Week, which begins publishing in September, moderated the first afternoon panel on interactive television. Speakers on his panel were Jim Braun of Time Warner Cable; George Escobar of AOLTV; Jim Wood of AT&T Broadband; and Mark Gathen of The Weather Channel.
Venture capital, where it’s headed and how cable fits into the equation were topics addressed as part of the CableLabs summer conference general session. Leslie Ellis, not pictured, moderated the panel. Speakers, from left: Comcast Corporation Vice Chairman Julian Brodsky; North Bridge Venture Partners’ Jeff McCarthy, Glenn Edens, president of AT&T Ventures; and Gary Lauder, head of Lauder Partners.
The business track concluded with a session on streaming media. Dr. Jerry Bennington, an executive consultant to CableLabs, moderated the panel of speakers that included Caroline Beck of Intertainer; Michael Cain of AT&T Labs; Richard Whittington of PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Jim Wood of AT&T Broadband.
August 8 began with the keynote session and followed with a panel of venture capitalists discussing investment opportunities and cable. Leslie Ellis, formerly of Kagan Associates, moderated the panel. Speakers were Julian Brodsky, who heads a venture capital arm of Comcast Corporation; Glenn Edens, who heads a ventures group within AT&T; Jeff McCarthy, a partner in North Bridge Venture Partners; and Gary Lauder, who heads Lauder Partners.
The next session on CableLabs Strategic Planning was moderated by David Reed, CableLabs’ Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning. Presenters were CableLabs consultant Jeffrey Jaye, on media streaming; Bennington on DBS competitive issues; Dr. Terry Shaw on network modeling and home networking topics; and JP Singh on Go2Broadband.
CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green delivers the keynote address at the CableLabs summer conference.
Five concurrent roundtable breakout sessions took place in the afternoon.
™ Innovative Platforms, moderated by Don Dulchinos of CableLabs. Speakers: Kuldip Johal, Pace Micro Technology; Dave Marsh, Microsoft; Dwight Sakuma, Motorola Broadband Communications.1. Alternative Powering Technologies, moderated by Nick Hamilton-Piercy of Rogers Cablesystems. Speakers: Rod Alblas, Rogers Cable; Corey Bowman, Electrofuel, Inc.; Tom Elliot, CableLabs executive consultant; Tom Sloane, Alpha Technologies; Steve Swech, Beacon Power Corp.
2. Key Challenges with Packet Telephony, moderated by Ed Miller of CableLabs. Speakers: Jim Ehlinger, AT&T Broadband; Ron Boyer, Time Warner Cable; Steve Craddock, Comcast Corporation.
3. Digital Program Insertion, moderated by Paul Woidke of Adlink. Speakers: Carol Derr MacBride, AT&T Broadband; Mike Garmon, Cox Communications; Neil Gratton, MediaOne Group; Scott Kornfeld, Adlink.
4. OpenCable
5. Integrated Cable Network Architecture, moderated by Rouzbeh Yassini, YAS Corp. Speakers: Doug Jones, YAS Corp.; Dr. Mukta Kar, CableLabs; Howard Pfeffer, YAS Corp.; David Scholze, CableLabs.
The conference concluded on August 9 with the annual meeting of the CableLabs Technical Advisory Committee.
In addition to sessions and panels, the conference included two dozen demonstrations. The companies that provided demos: 3Com, SpotOn, Beacon Power, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Clearband, coaXmedia, Electrofuel, Emperative, Future Networks, ICTV, Intel, Intellocity, Intellon, Intersil, which also provided a wireless local area network that allowed attendees to download copies of slide presentations during panel sessions; Jovio, Liberate, Microsoft TV, HITS 2 Home, Navic Systems, nCUBE, OpenTV, Proxim, RespondTV, and The Weather Channel.